04/28/11: Building a true civic partnership

This op-ed appeared in The Virginian-Pilot on the date shown.

NORFOLK City Manager Marcus Jones presented his proposed budget to the council and the public Tuesday evening. The city faced a $32 million shortfall, and the gap was bridged without increasing real estate taxes, something that residents in other localities in the region are facing. Some $17 million of the difference came from simply cleaning up the books. Although the budget does not include a pay raise for employees for the third straight year, Jones hopes to identify additional savings in order to make a “performance-based salary adjustment for employees” within the next few months.

The picture is not completely rosy, however. One point of concern is the increasing debt. As recently as 2007, Norfolk had debt of just over 37 percent of the maximum amount allowed under the state constitution. The debt is now 83 percent higher and is approaching 55 percent of the limit.

The budget, available at www.norfolk.gov, mentions that it may be a challenge to stay within the city’s two affordability measures in the coming years due to several major projects, including the new courthouse, elementary school and library.

That council chambers were nearly full Tuesday evening for the budget presentation was no surprise. For the first time, Norfolk held a series of public meetings during the formulation of the budget. This budget was also the first to have a citizens’ advisory committee participate in the process. The civic engagement was noticeable: When participants were asked to stand, most of those assembled did so.

Now that the budget has been presented, residents will have an opportunity to weigh in. A public hearing has been scheduled for Wednesday at 6 p.m. at Granby High School.

I sat through the preceding informal session, too. Not because I needed a lesson in the city’s implementation of General Accounting Standards Board Statement No. 54 — although I did wonder if the time counted as continuing professional education — but because it was the last informal session to be held without cameras.

Starting next week, gavel-to-gavel coverage of the informal session, as well as the formal session, will be broadcast live and streamed over the Internet. Closed sessions, of course, will not be broadcast, nor will the public comment portion of the formal session. Coming soon will be a move to twice-monthly meetings, both in the evenings.

Now if city officials can get the agenda and supporting documents out sooner, the partnership between residents and our government will be a more perfect union.

As Norfolk is learning, it is not enough to have a vision for our city posted on a website. The vision has to be shared. In his budget message, Jones shared his vision: That “the city is effective, efficient, accountable, responsive, inclusive and customer-focused.”

That sounds a lot like what community activists in Norfolk have been saying for the more than 30 years I’ve lived here. It may have taken a while, but it seems that the council and residents are finally getting on the same page.